Israeli Army Cancels A Deportation

January 24, 1992|By New York Times News Service.

JERUSALEM — An army panel on Thursday recommended that the deportation of a suspected Palestinian militant be canceled, revoking one of 12 expulsions ordered this month by the government. It was the first cancellation of a deportation order by the military since 1979.

The panel of military judges reviewing deportation orders against five Palestinians from the West Bank advised that one should be allowed to stay, and this was accepted by the area commander, a military spokesman said.

The Palestinian whose expulsion was overturned was identified as Iyad Jodah, 28, of El-Bireh. The army said he had been detained without trial since April on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities as a member of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The panel reviewing Jodah`s case ruled that measures ``less serious than expulsion could be taken to curb his activities,`` the military spokesman said.

Deportation orders against 11 other Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been upheld by military panels and will now be challenged in the High Court of Justice.

The court has not overturned any of the 66 expulsions ordered by Israel since the start of the Palestinian uprising in December 1987.

The latest deportation orders came after a number of shootings at Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The ambushes took four lives and sparked a militant protest campaign by settlers who have demanded tougher measures against Arab violence.

The expulsions drew a strong condemnation of Israel at the United Nations and delayed the start of the last round of Middle East peace talks in Washington.

The Palestinian delegation returning from the talks told a news conference Thursday that if the United States granted Israel`s request for $10 billion in loan guarantees for resettling new immigrants it would deliver ``a direct slap to the peace process`` and forfeit its role as a fair mediator.

But delegation members did not repeat recent warnings by Palestinian leaders that if the loan guarantees were approved they would boycott multilateral Middle East talks scheduled to begin in Moscow next week.

The delegates said the decision on going to Moscow rested with the Palestine Liberation Organization in coordination with Arab states.

``I don`t think you`ll hear the decision here,`` said Saeb Erakat, a member of the Palestinian team.

The Palestinian remarks came on the eve of a scheduled meeting in Washington at which Secretary of State James A. Baker III was expected to give the American reply to Israel`s request for loan guarantees.

But the spokeswoman for the Palestinian delegation, Hanan Ashrawi, said that if the loan guarantees were coupled with ``an open-book policy`` under which Israeli outlays for settlements in the occupied territories would be monitored, ``that would be another issue.``

Ashrawi`s remarks indicated a softening of the Palestinian position on attending the Moscow conference.

Last week, Nabil Sha`ath, a senior adviser to PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, hinted that the Palestinians would not go to Moscow if the loan guarantees were approved.

Arab foreign ministers and PLO representatives are scheduled to meet on Friday in Morocco to coordinate positions in advance of the Moscow talks.

Syria and Lebanon have already said they would not attend the multilateral discussions in protest over Israeli ``intransigence`` in bilateral Arab-Israeli negotiations in Washington.